I'm Clearly Dim

[oRpheusB20]

I swear I've tried all of the outcomes I have available to me, besides just wandering down to the village on every route (because there's pretty much no way that is the answer), and I'm getting nowhere. It seems best to attack Zack before he loses his sword, but then he's injured and weary of you (except for when you apologize but in order to get that far he must give up his sword to you and doesn't move for the rest of the route), but if you play innocent then he gets murdered anyway because he lacks any means of defending himself.
Meanwhile I fail to see a reason to play around with the bedsheets (I had a thought of covering up Matt's body so he doesn't immediately lose his will but if you get close enough to the body to do that, then either Zack follows you or the beasts appear so that doesn't seem possible), and there isn't a good reason to not pick up the herbs if you're going to be attacking Zack straight up, and oh boy is that getting tedious.
I know I'm overlooking something, but without just plain restarting and writing on a piece of paper every path that I take, I do know what the heck I'm missing here to move forward.
Anyone want to give me a nudge?

On the bright side, at least, it's a very neat game! At first I was a little disheartened at the small space we have to work with, but there is a surprising amount going on in that small space, even if the constant restarting gets a little mind-numbing.

[Creeepling]

Hey randib! Sorry I am a little late :)
You could try grabbing herbs before doing what you consider to be the best outcome :)

[oRpheusB20]

You're hardly late, don't worry!
And I've taken to always grabbing the herbs first thing, even though I'm 90% sure that the cleans bed sheets and the dirty bed sheets do absolutely nothing by this point and just skip them. Unless I could get a second round of herbs for after I heal Zack so he keeps his sword...? Whelp, back to random attempts I guess, haha

[Sammun Mak]

I've written out a few of the steps you may be missing. I kept them pretty vague but tried to help you narrow it down.

The best sheets are a joke, no use in the ending

You are correct about injuring zack and using the herbs

What you say to Zack really matters

Timing really matters

[oRpheusB20]

Ah, thanks! It's great to at least know that I don't have to mess with the sheets ever again. And I figured I was on the right track in injuring Zack, I have gotten the message stating I nearly had it, but clearly I'm not considering the timing enough... I think I've gotten into the mindset of 'I have few points where I can actively make changes to the timeline because hitting myself or Zack a second time just ends in one of us dying.' And I always seem to attack the Beasts first thing, too... it's hard to tell how long it will take before they strike so I don't let them talk much...

[Butterwithouter]

Originally posted by Sammun Mak:

I've written out a few of the steps you may be missing. I kept them pretty vague but tried to help you narrow it down.

The best sheets are a joke, no use in the ending

You are correct about injuring zack and using the herbs

What you say to Zack really matters

Timing really matters

omg i finally made it, the timing is reallly important.First i always want to attack the creatures as soon as possible before zack.

[Sammun Mak]

I'm glad you got it! It's been so long since I played the game at this point I couldn't have offered any help.

[oRpheusB20]

Since I've managed to beat the game, I've gone through it several times, to see the different dialogue options. I can't remember exactly what to do, but I could probably boot up the game and just sort of fumble my way to the end. But for something so condensed, it is shockingly complex and it would probably take me a while, even though I remember the general series of events that need to occur.
I only stopped before getting all the achievements because the game is very slow paced and I have lost my patience for the slow fade in fade out text from the opening, since you can't alt+tab away from the game to do something else while you wait for that to be over with.
Interesting thing to note: if you never learn Zack's name, the mind attack option lists him as ??? but the character herself addresses him by name. Before anyone else states it, at that.

[random_player_1]

So I got stuck right before the ending, both Wienne and Zack were ready to fight the critters together, but then Zack just didn't do anything ... a Let's Play video helped ... I only did one thing wrong, so in case someone needs an extra hint: closely follow the agreed-upon battle proceedings

[MyDogsacat]

just got this game and tried to follow these tips but i still cant figure out the timing and haven't found a lets play video showing how to do it